by Raymond Ibrahim<\/p>\n
Hudson New York<\/em><\/p>\n Sunday, the\u00a0Egyptian military opened fire on thousands of Christians<\/a>protesting in Maspero, Cairo. In the words of one Christian eyewitness, armored vehicles “came at great speed and drove into the crowds, going backwards and forwards, mowing people under their wheels. The most horrible scene was when one of the vehicles ran over a Copt’s [Christian’s] head, causing his brain to explode and blood was all over the place. We got a clear message today that we are not first class citizens.”<\/p>\n Various numbers of casualties have been given; AINA asserts that at least 35 Christians were massacred, many beyond recognition, and over 300 wounded; hundreds are still missing. Graphic pictures of some of the slain can be seenhere<\/a>.<\/p>\n Of course, you would not know any of this following the Western mainstream media (MSM). Conditioned to always appear “fair and balanced” \u2014 especially when the incidents being reported are neither \u2014 the MSM is giving the impression that the conflict consisted of equal violence and equal intolerance from both the military and “militant” Christians \u2014 or, to use the MSM’s favorite, and increasingly meaningless, euphemism, “sectarian strife,” conjuring up images of equally armed, equally militant factions fighting for supremacy.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, the MSM avoids the most obvious aspect of the conflict:\u00a0religion<\/em>, as Muslims \u2014 yet again \u2014 mow down infidel minorities for all to see.<\/p>\n While the military dictatorship cleanses Egypt of its Christian minority, the Egyptian media only depict images and “information” that comport with that agenda \u2014 all, of course, while na\u00efve, gullible, or lazy Western reporters lap it up. State news, for example, asserted that armed Christians were on the offensive, killing three soldiers, injuring twenty, and burning state property \u2014wanton lies<\/a>, according to many eyewitnesses \u2014 yet perfectly in line with the MSM’s obsession never to portray Muslims as aggressors.<\/p>\n Accordingly, these distortions were unhesitatingly regurgitated by the MSM. The\u00a0BBC<\/a>‘s headline was “Egypt troops dead after Coptic church protest in Cairo” [since changed] \u2014 as if that was the relevant news; the report’s opening sentence highlighted Christian protesters “clashing with security forces, with army vehicles burning outside the state television building,” again, portraying the protesters as the aggressors.<\/p>\n Even\u00a0Fox News<\/a>\u00a0had its readers sympathizing with Egypt’s military, even as it was busy massacring Christian citizens: the report told of an Egyptian soldier “collapsing in tears” as Christians “attacked” his fellow soldier. Of course,watching<\/a>\u00a0nearly 20 members of the police beating, dragging, and kicking a Christian for protesting the burning of his church \u2014 all while shouting slogans like “You infidel son of a bitch” \u2014 might counterbalance Fox News’s weeping soldier.<\/p>\n After asking “Why have we seen an upsurge in sectarian violence this year?” a new\u00a0CNN<\/a>\u00a0article titled “Egypt’s Tensions Explained” does anything but that. After stating that “the reasons are not clear” \u2014 code for “the reasons are not politically correct” \u2014 it blames “those opposed to democratic changes” and “efforts by extreme Islamist groups to resist attempts by the Copts to establish more churches” \u2014 again, careful to portray the Copts as somehow equally responsible as the Islamists who murder them.<\/p>\n And, as usual, while mentioning the numbers of dead and injured, the MSM devoutly refuses to indicate\u00a0who<\/em>\u00a0the dead are: after all, the overwhelming majority are Christians, and that fact would throw a wrench in their “balanced” portrayal of equal culpability.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, back in the real world, where objectivity is not at the mercy of ingrained relativism, political correctness, or the chronic need always to depict Islam in a positive light, eye-witnesses are describing these events as “war crimes<\/a>” perpetrated by an Islamist-inclined regime against the nation’s native Christians. Dr. Imad Gad, for instance, Strategy Expert at the Ahram Center, denounced the military’s “crimes against humanity,” even as he witnessed them during a live phone interview.<\/p>\n What sparked these latest crimes against humanity in Egypt? Why were Christians protesting in the first place? The answers to these questions only further validate the notion that Muslim persecution of Christians \u2014 whether perpetrated by the local mosque or the state \u2014 is a fact of life in Egypt.<\/p>\n Days ago, thousands of Muslims attacked and destroyed yet another church, in Edfu \u2014 following the\u00a0New Year church attack<\/a>, which left 23 dead, the destruction and desecration of the\u00a0ancient church in Sool<\/a>, and the\u00a0Imbaba attacks<\/a>, which saw several churches set aflame. In all of these wanton attacks, not one of the Muslim perpetrators were prosecuted by the Egyptian regime.<\/p>\n In the recent Edfu church attack, security forces “stood there watching,” the Intelligence Unit chief of the region was seen\u00a0directing the mob<\/a>\u00a0destroying the church. The governor himself appeared on State TV and “denied any church being torched,” calling it a “guest home” \u2014 a\u00a0common tactic<\/a>\u00a0to excuse the destruction of churches. He even\u00a0justified the incident<\/a>\u00a0by arguing that the church contractor made the building three meters higher than he permitted: “Copts made a mistake and had to be punished, and Muslims did nothing but set things right, end of story.”<\/p>\n The irony is that Christians went to demonstrate in Maspero because that is where Egyptian media are located, and they sought to get the world’s attention, highlight the nonstop abuses they are suffering. Not only were they massacred for their trouble, but they were portrayed as the “aggressors” by the same media they vainly hoped would reveal their predicament to the world.<\/p>\n